Hsie

January 6, 2016The Iconic: the little startup that could

By now, we’re all familiar with Australian online fashion retailer The Iconic. With major chains like Myer and David Jones having failed to take online shopping seriously until very recently, The Iconic was one of the first retailers to swoop in and take advantage of that gap in the market.

We’re going to be visiting The Iconic factory in Sydney next week during the Wingara Mura – Bunga Barrabugu Summer Program. But before we take a look at their facilities for ourself, how did the company get started?

Launched in 2011, the company was founded by Adam Jacobs, Finn Hänsel, Andreas Otto, Cameron Votan and Ryan Tuohy. Although most of the co-founders have since left the business, University of Sydney graduate Adam Jacobs remains as managing director.

With a background in consulting, having worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Boston Consulting Group both here and in Europe, Adam launched The Iconic with the help of Rocket Internet, a startup incubator based in Germany.

Since then, the company has grown in leaps and bounds. Boasting web traffic stats that would make a social media manager weep with joy (The Iconic currently has nearly 600,000 Facebook fans and more than 140,000 followers on Instagram), the retailer turned over $31 million in 2013.

Pretty cool! And I’m sure the site tour next week is going to be a blast.